“BMW Lottery Department” 419 Spam

You’ve won a car, laptop, and a frankly terrifying amount of money after being entered in a prize draw.

Well, that’s what the senders of the below missive want you to think, should you open it up in your mailbox.

Titled “Dear Lucky Winner” and sent from the so-called “BMW Lottery Department”, the mail reads as follows:

Dear Winner,
This is to inform you that you have been selected for a prize of a brand new 2016 Model BMW X6M CAR, a CHECK worth $1,500,000.00 USD and an APPLE LAPTOP from the international balloting programs held in the Johannesburg South Africa.
The selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection system (ESS) from a database of over 250,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world which you were selected.
The BMW Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also Licensed by the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR). To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact our fiduciary claims department for more information as regards procedures to the claim of your prize.
Name : Rev. William Christopher
Emai (bwmoffice2ATgmailDOTcom)
Phone Number: +27
Contact him by providing your secret pin code Number BMW:2551256003/23. You are also advised to provide him with the under listed information as soon as possible:
1. Name In Full :
2. Residential Address :
3. Nationality :
4. Age :
5. Occupation :
6. Direct Phone :
7. Present Country :
8. Email address :
9. Pin code Number BMW:
Mrs.YVONNE NELSON
THE DIRECTOR PROMOTIONS

Apart from the fact that they’re using Gmail for the official claims department address, I quite liked how they’ve managed to typo it as “BWM Office” instead of BMW. There’s no magical pile of cash at the end of this one (or a magical laptop or car, for that matter). All we have here is an attempt to drag a victim into the world of 419 / money mule scamming.

This one has been bouncing across mailboxes in various formats for years [1], [2], [3]. We can trace this one back to around 2006, though of course the various rewards and prize money offered differ from mail to mail. One constant is the BMW themed coat-tail riding, with many pieces of spam citing the fake “secret pin code number” – a dead giveaway that something isn’t quite right.

However you come across this one, and no matter what they’re offering, you should speed it towards your Trash folder with no delay.

March 23, 2018 - Scammers are using the good name of the recently deceased scientist Stephen Hawking to lure potential victims into a 419 scam, complete with a quiz and large cash prize for the winner.

January 10, 2018 - More and more people around the world are sending fake Nigerian Prince emails and getting involved in 419 scams. The most recent Nigerian Prince arrest proves why getting involved is risky business, even for those who aren't the masterminds.

September 14, 2017 - Crowdsourced funding opportunities via Kickstarter, Patreon, and GoFundMe have removed many structural roadblocks for people to access capital quickly and conveniently. But they’ve also lowered the barrier to entry for many very old scams. So how do you tell the difference between a great cause or project to contribute to and a digital confidence scam? Let us take a look at pitfalls on two crowdfunding platforms.